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PORTRAIT  OF  A.  B.  DURAND 


PAINTED    BY  PXCHED  BY 

DANIEL  HUNTINGTON  JAMES  D.  SMILLIE 

IN  1857 


ASHER  B.  DURAND 


A  MEMORIAL  ADDRESS 


DANIEL     HUNTINGTON 

PRESIDENT   OF    THE    CENTURY    ASSOCIATION 


NEW  YORK 

PRINTED  FOR  THE  CENTURY 
1887 


Press  of 

G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons 

New  York 


•  •  •  •  ,• 

•  •   •  •  ,•» 


a.  b.  burans,  jjisq.,  fussidbnt  of  thb  national  acadkmt  of  sbsiak.— tbou  a 
photoquaph  bt  vbsdrices. 


At  the  stated  monthly  meeting  of  the  Century,  held 
October  2,  1886,  the  President  of  the  Association 
was,  on  motion  of  Mr.  Louis  Lang,  requested  to 
prepare  an  address  on  "  the  long  and  industrious  life 
of  Asher  B.  Durand,  one  of  the  founders  of  the 
Century,"  then  recently  deceased.  The  address  was 
accordingly  prepared,  and  was  read  before  the  Cen- 
tury at  a  meeting,  held  at  the  rooms  of  the  Associa- 
tion on  the  evening  of  Saturday,  April  9,  1887,  to 
which  were  especially  invited  the  officers  of  the  New 
York  Historical  Society  and  of  the  National  Academy 
of  Design. 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  address,  the  Association 
requested  a  copy  of  it  for  publication  ;  and,  subse- 
quently, a  committee  was  appointed  to  print  it  for  the 
Century,  "  with  a  reproduction  of  the  portrait,  now 
the  property  of  the  Club,  as  a  frontispiece." 


ivil52376 


ASHER  BROWN  DURAND 

Was  born  at  Jefferson  Village  (now  in  the  township 
of  South  Orange,  New  Jersey)  August  21,  1796.  He 
was  the  eighth  of  a  family  of  eleven  children.  The 
Durands  were  of  French  origin,  descendants  of 
Huguenot  refugees — another  instance  of  the  loss  to 
France  and  benefit  to  this  country,  as  well  as  to  the 
Protestant  countries  of  Europe,  of  the  revocation  of 
the  Edict  of  Nantes  by  Louis  XIV  in  1685. 

The  artist's  father,  John  Durand,  came  from  Con- 
necticut about  1773  and  purchased  a  small  property 
in  what  is  now  South  Orange,  where  he  died  in  181 3. 
The  French  Huguenots'  hatred  of  tyranny  and  their 
religious  fervor  suffered,  we  may  believe,  no  injury  in 
this  instance  by  a  moderate  infusion  of  Connecticut 
steadiness. 

In  those  days  people  helped  themselves,  as  well  as 
their  neighbors,  and  an  inventive  capacity  was  of 
great  service.  This  ingenuity  the  elder  Durand 
possessed  in  an  eminent  degree.  He  was  an  adept 
in    mechanics,    and   especially   in    the   more   delicate 

5 


branches.  Besides  being  able  to  make  and  mend 
every  sort  of  farm  implement,  he  was  skilled  in  the 
manufacture  of  jewelry  and  silver-ware,  such  as 
spoons,  ear-rings,  etc.,  and  an  excellent  repairer  of 
watches  and  clocks. 

In  addition  to  these  valuable  and  useful  gifts,  he 
acted  as  a  moral  counsellor  to  his  neighbors.  Tem- 
perate in  opinion,  cool  in  judgment,  and  inflexibly 
honest,  they  could  confidently  consult  him  in  all  their 
difficulties.  Though  a  plain  country  farmer,  he  was 
not  indifferent  to  literature,  judging  by  his  books,  for 
he  was  a  subscriber  to  Gordon's  "  History  of  the 
United  States"  (a  work  of  great  interest,  which  every 
young  American  of  our  time  should  read),  and  he 
possessed  the  large  folio  "  Brown's  Bible,"  an  im- 
portant publication  of  that  day.  His  shop  was  a 
resort  of  prominent,  well-to-do  men  of  the  vicinity, 
where  they  discussed  political  and  social  questions, 
serving  as  an  intellectual  exchange  or  club  (one  of 
the  seeds,  in  fact,  of  the  Century),  suiting  the  simple 
primitive  habits  of  those  colonial  days.  At  the 
breaking  out  of  the  Revolution  our  artist's  father 
enlisted  in  the  army,  but  the  authorities  discovering 
his  skill  in  mechanics,  sent  him  back  to  make  bayo- 
nets, the  troops  being  sadly  deficient  in  arms.  The 
family  possess   one   of   those  bayonets,  unstained,   I 


believe,  with  the  blood  of  British  grenadiers.  In  one 
of  General  Washington's  reconnoitring  rides  on  the 
mountain  behind  the  Durand  farm,  his  spy-glass  was 
broken,  and  it  was  given  to  the  farmer  to  mend. 

These  incidents  give  an  idea  of  the  social  and  in- 
tellectual atmosphere  which  influenced  the  boyhood 
of  Durand.  The  ornamental  chasing  which  the 
father  must  have  occasionally  practised  in  finishing 
silver-ware  and  adorning  watch-cases,  we  may  well 
believe,  fostered  in  the  boy  a  fondness  for  artistic 
forms.  The  youth's  education  was  only  that  of  a 
village  school  at  the  beginning  of  this  century.  The 
grammar  he  used  is  a  small  volume,  bound  in  sheep, 
with  the  inscription,  "  Bought  July  8,  1811,"  its  cover 
tastefully  decorated  by  himself  with  pen  scroll-work 
surrounding  his  monogram  —  his  mind  more  en- 
grossed, perhaps,  with  this  outside  illumination  than 
with  the  nouns  and  verbs  within. 

Before  he  left  his  father's  house,  he  studied  an 
ingenious  machine  to  render  the  abstract  rules  of 
grammar  visible  to  the  eye,  by  certain  parts  and 
movements  demonstrating  the  meaning  of  the  various 
parts  of  speech.  At  the  old  homestead,  some  ruins 
of  this  machine — wheels,  mirrors,  weights,  etc. — re- 
mained for  many  years,  an  incomprehensible  mystery 
to  the  present  generation. 


This  grammatical  machine  was  made  by  his  elder 
brother,  Cyrus  Durand,  to  whose  inventive  genius  we 
are  indebted  for  great  progress  in  the  mechanic  arts. 
His  geometrical  lathe,  used  in  the  processes  of  bank- 
note engraving,  is  one  of  the  most  remarkable  instru- 
ments known  in  the  mechanical  world.  The  idea  of 
the  grammar  machine  was  not  original  with  him  ; 
he  took  it  from  an  acquaintance  and  worked  it  out 
for  practical  application.  In  1814,  when  eighteen 
years  of  age,  Durand  delivered  a  Fourth-of-July 
oration  at  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  Springfield, 
New  Jersey,  which  was  regarded  by  all  his  female 
acquaintances,  old  and  young,  as  a  masterpiece  of 
thought  and  oratorical  display.  On  the  delivery  of 
this  oration,  in  which  the  "  British  Lion "  was  se- 
verely handled,  in  accordance  with  the  spirit  of  the 
time,  the  audience  and  the  orator  marched  in  proces- 
sion, accompanied  by  two  of  his  brothers  playing  fife 
and  drum.  Such  experiences  served  as  a  discipline, 
and  filled  out  the  slender  opportunities  of  education. 

Durand  was  mainly  his  own  instructor.  Except  in 
the  fudiments  of  engraving,  he  had  no  master,  and 
not  even  afterwards  in  painting.  Even  in  engraving, 
he  began  through  his  own  unaided  genius.  In  those 
times,  in  the  back  of  the  outer  one  of  the  usual  double 
watch-cases,   was  placed  a  small  watchmaker's  card, 


engraved  on  thin  paper  more  or  less  ornamented. 
To  produce  one  of  these  the  young  Durand  ham- 
mered a  copper  cent  thin  and  smooth  enough  to  en- 
grave on,  and  then  made  the  tools  with  which  to  do 
the  work.  It  was  this  effort  which  led  to  his  pursuit 
of  that  art.  A  French  gentleman,  living  at  Elizabeth, 
on  seeing  this  experiment,  recommended  sending  the 
boy,  when  sixteen  years  old,  to  New  York  to  learn 
engraving.  In  after  years,  at  one  of  the  evening  re- 
ceptions of  the  Academy  of  Design,  when  Durand, 
then  president,  was  toasted  and  loudly  called  for,  he 
made  some  remarks,  and  among  other  things  said  : 
"  I  began  to  love  art  when  I  was  only  so  high''  put- 
ting his  hand  down  below  the  knee.  The  reporters 
were  puzzled  about  expressing  the  idea.  The  French 
gentleman's  advice  was  followed,  and  application  was 
made  to  an  engraver  named  Leney,  an  Englishman 
who  charged  $i,ooo  for  taking  him.  This  demand 
being  too  high  for  the  Durand  purse,  he  was  appren- 
ticed to  Peter  Maverick,  an  engraver  of  reputation 
at  the  time,  with  whom  he  remained  till  he  was  twenty- 
one  (five  years).  He  soon  surpassed  his  master,  many 
of  the  works  bearing  Maverick's  name,  having  been 
chiefly,  and  some  entirely,  executed  by  the  pupil.  A 
noted  example  is  the  engraved  portrait  of  Genl.  Bain- 
bridge.     The  dry  and  feeble  execution  of  Maverick 


gradually  has  disappeared  under  the  growing  force 
and  expression  of  Durand,  and  in  this  and  other 
prints  his  firm  and  harmonious  lines  and  lifelike 
character  are  clearly  visible. 

During  this  apprenticeship  the  principal  employ- 
ment was  the  copying  of  English  engravings  of  a  small 
size  for  the  publishers,  or  the  fanciful  headings  of 
cards  and  invitations,  a  fashion  which  had  employed 
the  talents  of  Bartolozzi  in  England,  as  engraver,  and 
of  Cipriani,  Stothard,  Westall,  and  others  in  designs. 
When  this  apprenticeship  expired  at  Durand's  twenty- 
first  year,  Maverick  showed  his  good  sense  in  securing 
his  pupil's  skill  by  making  him  a  partner  in  the  busi- 
ness. The  style  of  the  firm  was  Maverick  &  Durand, 
and  much  of  the  engraving  bearing  that  imprint  is 
the  exclusive  work  of  Durand.  This  partnership  con- 
tinued for  about  five  years. 

It  has  been  said  that  engraving  was  at  that  time 
almost  the  only  artistic  pursuit  in  this  country  which 
could  furnish  a  reasonable  support.    This  is  a  mistake. 

Trumbull  was  busy  with  his  battle-pieces,  and  often 
painted  portraits.  Vanderlyn  had  painted  the  por- 
traits which  enlisted  Aaron  Burr  in  his  favor.  Waldo 
was  then  a  student,  beginning  to  practise  portraiture, 
and  eking  out  a  scanty  purse  by  painting  signs  for 
hatters,  butchers,  and  tapsters.     Some  of  those  pic- 


II 


tures  of  beaver  hats  with  their  beautiful  gloss,  or  ribs 
of  beef  and  fat  chickens,  or  foaming  mugs  of  ale  in  the 
hands  of  jolly  topers,  which  were  swinging  in  the 
wind  in  our  boyish  days,  were  the  handicraft  of 
Waldo,  as  he  himself  told  the  writer  ;  and,  in  after 
days,  as  he  glanced  at  them,  cracked  and  sobered  by 
sun  and  rain,  he  was  mortified,  he  said,  to  think  that 
he  had  improved  so  little  in  the  lapse  of  years.  Jarvis, 
too,  was  starting  on  that  series  of  the  heroes  of  the 
war  of  1812,  some  of  which  Durand  afterwards  en- 
graved, and  which  now  adorn  the  Governor's  room  at 
the  City  Hall.  It  was  the  incident  of  the  copper 
plate  hammered  out  from  a  cent,  and  the  engraving 
on  it  for  a  watch-case,  that  turned  the  course  of 
Durand  in  that  direction,  instead  of  painting,  and  we 
may  be  grateful,  for  it  was  not  only  an  excellent  dis- 
cipline for  him,  but  has  given  us  an  invaluable  series 
of  prints,  which  must  be  more  and  more  treasured  as 
time  goes  on. 

Portrait  engraving,  nevertheless,  was  the  main 
stay  of  engravers.  Durand's  accurate  drawing,  which 
he  was  constantly  improving  by  careful  study  in  the 
evenings  at  home,  enabled  him  to  preserve  the  like- 
ness, as  well  as  to  execute  his  plates  with  that  clearness 
and  precision  of  line  and  freedom  of  handling  which 
characterized  all  he  touched. 


12 


His  first  original  work  in  engraving,  when,  instead 
of  copying  the  work  of  others,  he  engraved  directly 
from  a  painting,  was  the  head  of  a  beggar,  known  as 
"  Old  Pat."  This  painting  is  by  Waldo,  is  strongly 
painted,  and  now  belongs  to  the  Boston  Athenaeum. 
It  is  usually  called  "  A  Beggar  with  a  Bone,"  and 
Durand's  engraving  was  so  well  executed  as  to  call 
forth  the  admiration  of  Col.  Trumbull,  who  had, 
about  that  time,  tried  to  engage  Heath  of  London 
to  engrave  his  '*  Declaration  of  Independence,"  but 
had  declined  to  do  so  on  account  of  the  extravagant 
charge.  He  then  applied  to  Durand,  who  was  willing 
to  undertake  it  for  $3,000,  half  the  amount  which 
Heath  had  demanded.  Maverick  wished  to  be  joined 
in  the  commission,  but  Trumbull  wisely  demurred. 
Maverick  objected,  was  offended,  and  the  partnership 
was  dissolved.  Durand  was  now  his  own  master,  and 
gladly  received  the  commission.  He  was  chiefly  en- 
gaged on  this  large  plate  for  three  years,  and  the 
result  was  the  masterpiece  we  know  so  well.  In  it  he 
has  preserved  the  likenesses  with  great  fidelity,  com- 
bining a  free  and  vigorous  use  of  the  lines  with  a 
broad  and  rich  effect  of  light  and  shade  most  attrac- 
tive to  the  eye.  It  established  his  reputation  as  a 
master  of  the  art.  Durand  always  spoke  gratefully 
of  Trumbull,  who  thus  recognized  and   encouraged 


13 

him.  Trumbull  painted  his  portrait,  which  is  in 
possession  of  the  family. 

In  the  collection  of  the  engravings  by  Durand 
belonging  to  his  son,  the  various  stages  of  this  print 
can  be  seen,  from  the  first  outline  to  its  final  perfec- 
tion, showing  the  gradual  process  of  the  patient  and 
skilful  hand — an  invaluable  lesson  of  the  engraver's 
art.  Trumbull  was  greatly  pleased.  In  a  letter  to 
the  Marquis  de  Lafayette,  dated  New  York,  October 
20,  1823,  he  writes  :  "  I  have  sent  to  the  care  of 
Wells,  Williams,  &  Co.,  bankers  in  Paris,  who  will 
forward  it  to  you,  a  small  case  containing  a  proof  im- 
pression {avant  la  lettre)  of  a  print  which  has  been 
engraved  here  from  my  painting  of  the  Declaration 
of  Independence,  by  a  young  engraver,  born  in  this 
vicinity,  and  now  only  twenty-six  years  old.  This 
work  is  wholly  American^  even  to  the  paper  and 
printing,  a  circumstance  which  renders  it  popular 
here,  and  will  make  it  a  curiosity  to  you,  who  knew 
America  when  she  had  neither  painters  nor  engravers, 
nor  arts  of  any  kind,  except  those  of  stern  utility'' 

The  name  of  the  engraver  is  not  given,  probably 
because  his  signature  was  on  the  plate,  with  that  of 
Trumbull,  as  is  usual  in  proofs. 

After  this  Durand  executed  many  small  engravings 
for  annuals,  then  coming  into  fashion.     Most  of  these 


14 


small  prints  were  copied  from  large  English  engrav- 
ings, but  some  from  original  paintings. 

The  "  Dull  Lecture,"  after  Newton's  charming 
picture,  at  that  time  in  the  collection  of  Philip 
Hone,  now  in  the  Lenox  Library,  and  "  Ann  Page, 
Slender  and  Shallow,"  after  Leslie's  fine  group, 
also  then  belonging  to  Philip  Hone,  but  unfor- 
tunately not  now  in  this  country  —  these  small 
engravings  are  gems  of  beauty.  So  are  also 
"  The  Sisters,"  after  Morse,  and  "  The  Power  of 
Love,"  representing  Cupid  riding  and  controlling  a 
dragon,  after  a  renaissance  design.  The  painting 
belonged  to  a  noted  dealer  and  restorer  known  as 
"  Old  Paff,"  in  whose  dimly  lighted  and  musty  den 
the  connoisseurs  of  early  New  York  congregated  to 
wonder  at  the  "  Raphaels,  Correggios,  and  stuff " 
which  the  lean  and  keen-eyed  "  Paff"  had  raked  up, 
begrimed  and  daubed  over,  in  some  obscure  pawn- 
broker's shop,  and  cleaned  and  brought  out  in  gemmy 
brilliance,  and  over  whose  beauties  he  would  expatiate 
enthusiastically  for  hours. 

From  1822  to  1836  Durand  was  mainly  an  engraver, 
but  was  constantly  improving  by  the  practice  of  draw- 
ing, chiefly  during  the  evenings  at  home,  also  at  the 
old  American  Academy,  and  then  again  in  the  schools 
of  the  National  Academy  after  its  foundation  in  182^, 


'5 

he  having  been  actively  engaged  in  originating  that 
institution. 

I  remember  well  the  careful  and  accurate  drawings 
he  made  as  lately  as  1836  and  1837,  soon  after  the 
first  life-school  was  opened  at  the  Academy  rooms  in 
Beekman  St.  (Clinton  Hall).  He  was  then  an  estab- 
lished artist,  forty  years  old,  but  was  a  devoted  student 
of  the  figure  in  the  life-class. 

When  he  first  came  to  New  York  (in  18 12)  he  said 
there  was  but  one  store  in  which  the  most  ordinary 
print  could  be  found  for  sale,  and  a  lithograph  he  saw 
seemed  to  him  an  extraordinary  masterpiece  of  art. 
There  were  no  shops  for  plaster  casts,  but  already  the 
American  Academy  of  Arts  had  a  collection  of  casts 
of  statues  and  busts,  purchased  for  them  by  Mr.  Rob. 
R.  Livingston,  then  our  minister  to  France.  Dunlap 
speaks  of  Durand  as  drawing  from  these  casts  in  181 7, 
and  notices  his  proficiency  at  that  time.  These  studies 
of  antique  sculpture  strongly  influenced  the  style  of 
bank-note  engraving,  in  which  Durand  was  actively 
engaged  during  some  years.  His  designs  for  this  pur- 
pose show  a  refined  and  classical  taste  which  he  may 
be  said  to  have  introduced,  and  which  corresponded 
with  a  theory  he  often  expressed,  that  the  mind  and 
feeling  of  the  artist,  and  not  a  mere  imitation  of 
natural  objects,   inclined  the  intelligent  observer  to 


i6 

appreciate  works  of  art.  He  maintained  that  the  great 
artists  of  antiquity  chose  objects  in  nature  to  express 
human  emotions,  to  tell  a  story,  and  not,  like  some 
fashionable  schools  of  the  day,  making  it  a  prime  ob- 
ject to  exhibit  the  dexterity  of  a  brilliant  execution, 
and  thus  reduce  art  to  a  contest  for  technical  skill. 

In  his  landscapes  he  remained  true  to  this  principle, 
using  the  facts  of  nature  to  express  a  certain  feeling 
and  poetical  sentiment.  His  aim  was  thus  creative, 
though  in  his  studies  he  was  marvellously  realistic  and 
exact.  In  his  bank-note  vignettes  you  may  find  the 
gods  and  goddesses  adapted  to  the  most  utilitarian 
subject.  In  a  common  one-dollar  bank-note  he  intro- 
duced a  beautitul  antique  figure  of  Justice  holding  the 
scales,  and  in  an  illustration  for  the  Erie  Canal,  Nep- 
tune starting  the  waters  of  the  lakes  towards  the  sea, 
and  in  the  distance  the  canal-boats  being  "  locked 
down  "  to  tide-water.  He  was  perhaps  the  first  to  in- 
troduce the  gods  of  Olympus  to  the  banks  of  finance, 
and  there  they  have  been  held  in  bonds  to  this  day. 

Durand's  taste  in  design  and  skill  in  the  use  of  the 
graver  had  the  effect  to  attract  other  men  of  rare 
talent  to  bank-note  engraving,  as  in  the  instance  of 
Casilear,  who  became  his  pupil,  and  soon  distinguished 
himself  for  the  force  and  brilliancy  of  his  execution, 
following  also  the  example  of  the  elder  artist  by  de- 


17 

voting  himself  to  landscape,  in  which  field  he  has  won 
so  much  honor.  The  superior  execution  of  American 
bank-notes  secured  for  this  country  the  production  of 
paper  currency,  bonds,  etc.,  for  foreign  countries,  as 
well  as  the  enormous  business  of  our  own  government. 
At  the  present  time  the  chief  production  of  such  en- 
graving is  for  the  South  American  States,  and  espe- 
cially for  Brazil.  In  1822  Durand  had  an  assistant 
named  Pekinino,  a  clever  Italian  engraver,  but  an  un- 
principled adventurer.  They  engraved  each  other's 
portraits,  and  soon  after  they  separated.  The  star  of 
Bolivar,  the  South  American  Liberator,  just  then  rose 
to  the  zenith  of  popular  favor,  and  Pekinino,  suffering 
from  chronic  consumption  of  the  purse,  saw  a  chance 
of  reaping  a  small  harvest.  Possessing  the  plate  of 
the  portrait  of  his  friend  Durand,  he  erased  his  name, 
substituted  that  of  Bolivar,  and  sold  it  as  a  veritable 
likeness  of  the  popular  hero.  The  print  is  well  en- 
graved, and  is  a  fair  likeness  of  Durand  in  youth. 

After  the  large  plate  of  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence, Durand  executed  many  portrait  prints — a 
full  length  of  Gen.  Jackson,  then  the  hero  of  the  war, 
after  the  full  length  by  Vanderlyn  in  the  City  Hall,  a 
spirited  work ;  also  a  number  of  distinguished  clergy 
men,  showing  that  the  churches  were  devoted  to  their 
pastors,  and  the  people  wanted  their  portraits      To 


this  we  are  indebted  for  the  speaking  intellectual 
countenances  of  Larned,  Milnor,  Mason,  Nott,  Spring, 
Sprague,  Milledollar,  and  Summerfield.  Durand's 
Mason  well  portrays  the  energetic  and  earnest  expres- 
sion of  that  divine  ;  and  Summerfield,  who  moved 
enormous  audiences  to  tears,  in  Durand's  print  yet 
beams  with  evangelic  fervor.  Verplanck,  the  first 
president  of  the  Century,  and  a  man  of  consummate 
judgment  in  art  and  oratory,  often  spoke  of  these  por- 
traits with  admiration. 

In  1824  the  city  published  an  important  work  com- 
memorative of  the  Erie  Canal  Celebration,  and  for 
this  Durand  engraved  several  strongly  characterized 
portraits — Cadwallader  C olden,  then  Mayor,  also 
Philip  Hone,  Wm.  Paulding,  and  Dr.  Mitchell,  manly 
works,  now  exceedingly  scarce  and  valuable. 

None  of  Durand's  portrait  engravings  excel  some 
of  those  small  ones  he  executed  for  Herring  and 
Longacre's  National  Portrait  Gallery,  and  of  these  the 
heads  of  Gov.  Ogden,  Chief-Justice  Marshall,  Chas. 
Carroll,  and  Col.  Trumbull,  hold  preeminent  rank. 
The  Marshall  is  after  Inman,  and  is  admirable.  Gov. 
Ogden  was  done  from  a  life-size  portrait  painted  by 
Durand  himself.  The  Chas.  Carroll  (preferred  by 
some)  is  after  Chester  Harding,  and  represents  the 
patriotic    signer    in    his    venerable    age    and    calm 


19 

dignity.  The  Trumbull  is  from  the  Waldo  portrait 
in  the  Yale  College  gallery,  and  is  truly  a  gem  of  art. 
While  it  was  in  progress,  Trumbull  gave  Durand  sit- 
tings for  the  perfection  of  the  plate,  and  with  those 
masterly  yet  delicate  strokes  of  the  graver  he  added 
an  expression  of  individual  life  which  greatly  enhances 
its  interest.  Remembering  Trumbull  well,  and  often 
meeting  him  in  my  early  years,  I  see  in  the  print  the 
very  expression  of  the  living  man,  the  clever  artist, 
the  mettlesome  soldier,  and  the  polished  gentleman 
of  the  old  school. 

These  plates  may  well  serve  as  examples  for  portrait 
engravers  nowadays.  We  see  too  many  cold,  dry,  and 
mechanical  portrait-prints — sooty  in  effect,  dull  in  ex- 
pression, and  terribly  like  the  originals,  ruled  off  by 
machinery  in  haste  for  a  grab  at  the  beggarly  prices 
for  which  they  are  ordered.  There  are  exceptions, 
certainly,  and  among  them  some  of  the  small  portraits 
on  bank-notes.  The  wood  engravers  also  have  given 
us  some  fine  examples. 

Although  so  much  occupied  with  engraving,  Durand 
took  the  time  to  paint  an  occasional  portrait  or  group 
of  figures.  In  1825  he  was  a  ringleader  of  that  band 
of  rebel  students  of  the  old  American  Academy  of 
Fine  Arts,  who,  disgusted  with  the  harsh  response 
to  their  request  for  better  opportunities  for  drawing 


20 


from  the  antique,  united  in  a  society  for  evening 
study,  which  soon  resulted  in  the  foundation  of  the 
National  Academy  of  Design.  To  the  first  exhibition 
of  this  Academy,  in  1826,  and  to  several  succeeding 
ones,'  he  not  only  contributed  proof  impressions  of  his 
engravings,  but  paintings ;  and  the  landscape  back- 
grounds he  introduced  in  portraits  of  ladies  and  chil- 
dren charmed  the  visitors  and  gave  a  foretaste  of  his 
talents  in  that  direction.  It  is  evident  from  the  early 
catalogues,  that  he  was  then  aiming  at  serious  histori- 
cal painting.  In  1826,  the  first  exhibition  of  the  N. 
A.  D.,  he  sent  "  Mary  Magdalen  at  the  Sepulchre." 
The  following  year  he  contributed  "  Samson  shorn  of 
his  locks  by  the  Philistines  while  asleep  in  the  lap 
of  Delilah,"  and,  in  1829,  a  "  Hagar  and  Ishmael." 
In  1831,  another  "Samson  and  Delilah,"  meaning, 
doubtless,  to  warn  the  strong  men  of  New  York  to 
beware  of  the  blandishments  of  the  enticing  belles 
of  the  period,  whose  snares  were  spread  at  that  time 
only  from  the  Battery  to  Chambers  St.  The  same 
year  he  exhibited  the  first  decided  venture  in  the  field 
where  he  was  to  win  such  unfading  laurels — "  A  View 
of  the  Catskill  Mountains,"  probably  the  scene  on  the 
creek,  which  he  afterwards  engraved  of  a  small  size 
with  great  delicacy  and  refinement. 

In  1833,  he  sent  a  portrait  of  a  noted  man  who,  at 


21 


that  day,  was  stirring  the  vitals  of  the  dyspeptic  world 
by  his  lectures  on  diet — Sylvester  Graham,  the 
founder  of  ''Graham  Bread^'  "one  slice  of  which," 
Catherine  Sedgwick  said,  "  was  enough  to  sanctify  a 
whole  dinner."  Graham  not  only  invented  brown 
bread,  but  he  wrote  verses.  One  of  his  efforts  in  this 
line  is  a  satirical  poem,  called  forth  on  the  first  appear- 
ance of  that  fashionable  protuberance  to  a  lady's  cos- 
tume, called  "  The  Bustle,"  which  is  the  title  of  the  said 
poem.  Durand,  to  please  Graham,  and  doubtless  wil- 
ling to  help  satirize  a  form,  which  belied  so  villainously 
the  chaste  contour  of  a  Venus  or  Diana,  furnished  a 
design  for  the  cover,  representing  a  lady  in  profile  with 
a  number  of  cupids  hovering  over  and  dancing  on  this 
part  of  her  attire.  The  poem  was  printed,  but,  on 
the  eve  of  publication,  suppressed.  Mr.  John  Durand 
has  a  copy,  and  it  would  well  come  in  play  now  that 
the  bustle  is  again  raging  and  rampant. 

In  the  same  exhibition,  1833,  appeared  that  striking 
and  truthful  portrait  of  Gov.  Ogden,  now  in  the  col- 
lection of  the  Historical  Society. 

Then  follow  in  '34  and  '35  the  fine  portraits  of 
President  James  Madison  and  John  Quincy  Adams, 
the  property  of  the  Century  Club.  That  of  Madison 
was  painted  in  the  extreme  old  age  of  the  ex-President, 
and  is  accurately  drawn  and  refined  in  color,  represent- 


22 


ing  so  well  the  pallor  and  thoughtfulness  of  the  ven- 
erable statesman  as  to  place  it  in  the  front  rank  of 
portraiture.  These  and  several  other  portraits  of 
distinguished  men  were  commissioned  by  a  man 
whose  acquaintance  Durand  made  at  that  time — Mr. 
Luman  Reed,  whose  friendship  had  a  lasting  effect 
on  the  career  of  the  artist.  Mr.  Reed  was  the  first 
American  who  formed  a  collection  wholly  composed 
of  works  of  our  own  artists.  Besides  several  portraits, 
he  ordered  historical  subjects,  and  his  warm  friendship 
and  enlightened  and  generous  treatment  of  Durand, 
as  well  as  of  Cole,  Mount,  Flagg,  and  other  Ameri- 
can artists,  gave  an  impetus  to  the  art  of  our  country, 
and  was  soon  followed  by  others  in  the  same  spirit. 
The  portrait  of  Mr.  Reed  (exhibited  in  the  Durand 
collection  at  Ortgie's  Gallery),  the  property  of  Mr. 
Sturges,  is  a  truthful  likeness  of  one  of  the  noblest  of 
our  New  York  merchants.  The  collection  he  formed 
became,  after  his  death,  through  the  liberality  of  his 
relatives  and  friends.  The  New  York  Gallery  of  Fine 
Arts,  since  united  to  that  of  the  Historical  Society. 

A  group  of  New  York  merchants,  warm  friends  of 
Durand,  caught  Mr.  Reed's  spirit,  and  distinguished 
among  them  was  Jonathan  Sturges,  who  formed  a 
valuable  collection  wholly  of  American  art,  aided  lib- 
erally in  the  establishment  of  the  New  York  gallery, 


23 

and  in  connection  with  Chas.  M.  Leupp,  another 
noble  friend  of  our  artists,  furnished  a  large  amount  of 
money  toward  the  purchase  of  ground  and  building  of 
the  galleries  in  Broadway  opposite  Bond  St.,  owned 
by  the  Academy,  and  in  which  the  exhibitions  were 
held  for  several  years. 

Abraham  M.  Cozzens  should  be  remembered  as 
associated  with  these  gentlemen  in  the  liberal  and  in- 
telligent cultivation  of  art,  and  who,  by  his  enthusi- 
asm, aroused  a  similar  spirit  in  a  large  circle  of  friends, 
such  as  Marshall  O.  Roberts,  Robert  M.  Oliphant, 
Wm.  H.  Osborn,  and  others. 

The  engraving  of  Musidora,  executed  from  an 
original  design  by  Durand,  is  a  work  of  this  period, 
and  was  done  to  try  his  skill  in  engraving  the  nude 
figure.  It  is  a  charming  work,  but  the  taste  of  the 
public  did  not  lead  in  that  direction  ;  on  the  contrary, 
there  was  then  a  decided  prejudice  against  nude 
figures,  and,  consequently,  the  Musidora,  which  is 
a  beautiful  and  graceful  figure  and  finely  engraved, 
failed  to  secure  the  admiration  its  merits  deserved. 

The  figure  subjects  and  portraits  which  chiefly 
occupied  the  time  of  Durand  at  this  period  show  that 
he  considered  this  the  department  he  was  to  follow. 
The  passion  for  landscape  had  not  yet  taken  complete 
possession  of  his  mind.     The  difiiculty  of  procuring 


24 

models  or  costumes  was  great.  The  various  studio 
properties  needed  to  pursue  figure  composition  were 
not  at  hand,  but  the  open  fields  invited  him  :  there 
was  a  free  range  and  every  variety  to  tempt  the 
painter.  He  began  to  yield  to  the  delight  of  land- 
scape, and  was  heard  to  say  :  "I  leave  the  human 
trunk  and  take  to  the  trunks  of  trees." 

In  1836,  when  I  was  a  pupil  under  Prof.  Morse,  I 
first  met  Durand.  Ver  Bryck,  then  also  a  fellow- 
student,  and  who  had  made  the  acquaintance  of 
Durand  at  the  schools  of  the  Academy,  took  me 
to  the  studio  of  the  great  engraver.  He  received  us 
with  the  frank  cordiality  which  was  always  his  char- 
acteristic trait,  and  showed  us  some  plates  in  progress, 
among  others  that  of  the  Ariadne,  then  approaching 
completion.  We  expressed  our  delight  at  its  exceed- 
ing delicacy  and  beauty,  and  he  asked  if  we  would  like 
to  see  the  original  painting.  Though  two  rather  bash- 
ful young  men,  we  perhaps  somewhat  too  eagerly 
assented  to  the  proposal. 

He  at  once  drew  back  a  dark  green  curtain  which 
hid  the  picture  from  the  vulgar  gaze.  A  sudden  light 
seemed  to  burst  on  the  shaded  studio  -from  the  lumi- 
nous and  palpitating  figure  of  th^  sleeping  beauty. 
The  sombre  depths  of  olive  foliage  under  which  she 
reposed   heightened   the   glow   of   her  graceful   and 


25 

tenderly  rounded  form.  One  fancied  that  her  calmly 
closed  lids  would  open  and  the  startled  girl  hastily 
wrap  the  drapery  about  her  to  hide  such  loveliness  from 
profane  eyes.  The  engraving  renders  the  drawing, 
the  subtle  gradations  of  light,  the  luminous  shadows, 
the  sweet  repose  of  the  whole,  with  a  skill  never 
surpassed. 

But  let  us,  sober  Centurians,  beware  of  the  intoxi- 
cation which  long  ago  enticed  the  frenzied  Bacchus, 
lord  of  the  purple  grape,  to  lose  his  senses  at  the  feet 
of  this  bewitching  goddess. 

At  about  the  year  1836  Durand's  career  as  an  en- 
graver ended.  His  reputation  was  established  on 
solid  grounds.  His  triumph  was  complete.  His 
chief  works  in  that  department  take  rank  with  the 
masterpieces  of  Morghen,  Strange,  and  Sharp,  and 
are  treasured  among  collectors  as  acknowledged  ex- 
amples of  high  art. 

For  several  years  he  was  mainly  a  figure  and  por- 
trait painter.  This  was  a  second  and  marked  period 
in  his  life. 

A  portrait  of  Edward  Everett,  who  was  then  be- 
ginning to  attract  attention  as  an  orator,  was  greatly 
admired.  Durand  gave  to  it  a  bold  arrangement  of 
drapery,  by  a  cloak  thrown  over  one  shoulder  in  the 
Spanish   fashion  then  prevailing ;   the   broad   black- 


26 

velvet  lining  contrasting  with  the  lucid  color  of  the 
flesh  and  the  flashing  eye  of  the  Senator. 

During  this  period  appeared  the  cabinet  group  of 
"  The  Pedlar,"  the  ''  Capture  of  Major  Andre,"  and 
the  "  Wrath  of  Peter  Stuyvesant."  The  latter,  an  il- 
lustration of  Irving's  "  Knickerbocker,"  and  "  The 
Pedlar,"  painted  for  Luman  Reed,  are  now  at  the 
Historical  Society.  Three  artists  sat  for  heads  in  the 
group  of  the  "  Wrath  of  Peter  Stuyvesant,"  somewhat 
caricatured  to  suit  the  story.  Stuyvesant,  it  was  said, 
was  a  portrait  of  Luman  Reed.  The  tall,  frightened 
attendant  Durand  painted  from  himself,  and  General 
Cummings  acted  as  trumpeter.  His  next  picture,  the 
"  Capture  of  Major  Andre,"  was  engraved  by  Alfred 
Jones  for  the  Art  Union.  He  was  careful  to  tell  the 
story  truthfully,  and  has  portrayed  the  self-possessed 
ease  and  military  bearing  of  Andre,  as  well  as  the 
quiet  determination  and  honest  patriotism  of  Paulding 
and  his  companion.  The  engraving  was  so  well  exe- 
cuted as  to  establish  the  reputation  of  Alfred  Jones, 
was  widely  disseminated,  and  has  been  reproduced  in 
signs  and  banners. 

In  1838  appeared  "  Rip  Van  Winkle  with  the  Crew 
of  Hendrick  Hudson,"  imbued  with  the  weird  mystery 
which  Irving  has  thrown  around  the  legend. 

The  portrait  of  Bryant  was  a  much  later  work — 


27 

painted  after  Durand  had  ceased  to  exhibit  figures 
or  portraits.  This  belongs  to  the  poet's  family,  while 
the  Century  has  a  duplicate,  and  is  a  faithful  likeness 
of  the  then  middle-aged  poet,  though  few  can  now 
recall  his  appearance  at  that  day.  The  admirable 
engraving  of  this  portrait  by  Alfred  Jones  was 
worked  upon  by  Durand  by  request  of  the  engraver, 
and  was  the  last  time  he  took  the  graver  in  hand. 
Some  time  before  bidding  a  final  farewell  to  his 
practice  as  an  engraver,  he  was  stealthily  indulging 
his  love  for  landscape  in  a  room  adjoining  his  en- 
graver's studio.  On  one  occasion  the  writer  was 
admitted  into  this  mysterious  sanctum,  and  on  his 
easel  was  a  picture  which  Durand  modestly  spoke  of 
as  a  "  doubtful  experiment  " — a  scene  in  the  Catskill 
region,  in  which  a  river  flowed  calmly  through  fields 
and  past  forests,  leading  the  eye  towards  a  distant 
chain  of  mountains,  over  which  floated  a  silver  haze. 
And  in  1838  he  exhibited  a  twilight,  which  rendered 
with  much  feeling  the  solemn  glow  and  deep-toned 
richness  of  the  hour. 

In  1839  ^^^  '40  ^^  had  given  himself  heartily  to 
landscape,  and  two  important  pictures,  "  Morning " 
and  "  Evening," — painted  for  F.  J.  Betts,  and  now  in 
New  Haven, — held  crowds  of  visitors  in  admiration. 
Soon    there    was    exhibited    another    large    picture. 


28 

called  "  Sabbath  Bells,"  painted  for  Gouverneur 
Kemble,  of  Cold  Spring.  It  was  a  lovely  scene 
near  a  sequestered  village.  Over  the  still  water  and 
through  the  old  elms  the  sunlight  streamed  cheerily ; 
a  holy  calm  seemed  to  pervade  the  air ;  a  few  vil- 
lagers were  on  their  way  to  church,  and  one  could 
fancy  he  heard  the  bells  sounding  softly  through  the 
luminous  atmosphere. 

Durand  had  been  a  pioneer  in  engraving ;  he  was 
now  a  pioneer  in  another  very  important  branch  of 
study,  viz.,  that  of  painting  carefully  finished  studies 
directly  from  nature  out-of-doors.  Before  his  day 
our  landscape  painters  had  usually  made  only  pencil 
drawings  or,  at  most,  slight  water-color  memoranda  of 
the  scenes  they  intended  to  paint,  aiding  the  memory 
by  writing  on  the  drawing  hints  of  the  color  and 
effect.  Cole,  to  be  sure,  lived  at  Catskill,  in  full  view 
of  magnificent  scenery,  and  was  endowed  with  a 
wonderful  memory,  so  that  he  gave  an  astonishing 
look  of  exact  truth  to  many  of  his  pictures  of  Ameri- 
can scenery,  but  he  rarely,  if  at  all,  up  to  that  period, 
painted  his  studies  in  the  open  air. 

Durand  went  directly  to  the  fountain-head,  and 
began  the  practice  of  faithful  transcripts  of  "  bits  " 
for  use  in  his  studio,  and  the  indefatigable  patience 
and  the  sustained  ardor  with  which  he  painted  these 


29 

studies  not  only  told  on  his  elaborate  works,  but 
proved  a  contagious  influence,  since  followed  by  most 
of  our  artists,  to  the  inestimable  advantage  of  the 
great  landscape  school  of  our  country. 

In  1840  Durand  went  to  Europe  in  company  with 
Casilear,  Kensett,  and  Rossiter.  He  remained 
abroad  a  year,  visiting  London,  Holland,  Switzer- 
land, and  Italy.  As  is  frequently  the  case  at  the  first 
acquaintance  with  the  old  masters,  there  was  some 
disappointment.  At  the  National  Gallery  in  London 
he  saw  Claude's  pictures  for  the  first  time.  He 
wrote  :  "  They  do  not  astonish  me,  although  there 
are  parts  in  some  of  them  of  surpassing  beauty. 
There  is  generally  a  cold  green  and  blue  appearance 
about  them,  and  no  particularly  striking  effects  in 
color  or  light  and  shade.  Still,  on  careful  examina- 
tion, they  evince  that  knowledge  of  nature  for  which 
Claude  is  celebrated,  particularly  in  atmosphere,  the 
character  and  softness  of  foliage,  and  more  especially 
in  water,  as  seen  in  some  of  his  seaport  subjects. 
On  the  whole,"  he  said,  "  I  am  somewhat  disap- 
pointed in  Claude.  I  see  but  two  or  three  of  his 
works  which  meet  my  expectations,  but,"  he  adds, 
"to  me  these  alone  are  worth  a  passage  across  the 
Atlantic."  In  London  he  met  Leslie  and  Wilkie, 
then   at   the   zenith   of    their   fame.       He   describes 


so 

Wilkie  as  "  a  gruff -looking  Scotchman  of  plain,  blunt 
manners,  truly  Scotch  in  face  and  accent."  Durand 
had  not  the  luck  to  surprise  Wilkie,  as  Hayden  did, 
stripped  to  the  waist  and  painting  from  himself 
before  a  mirror  and  exclaiming  :  "  Capital  practice, 
Hayden  ! " 

During  this  visit  he  saw  Turner  also,  and  visited 
the  house  where  his  paintings  were  kept.  Few  were 
admitted  to  this  den,  which  was  a  wilderness  of 
accumulated  studies  and  works  in  every  stage  of 
progress.  Some  time  after  this  Turner,  on  being 
shown  Smillie's  engraving  of  an  illustration  Durand 
made  for  Halleck's  poems,  called  "  Our  Own  Green 
Forest-Land,"  said  that  it  was  the  finest  thing  he  had 
seen  of  American  art. 

From  London  he  took  steamer  to  Antwerp,  enjoy- 
ing as  well  as  he  could  the  midnight  horrors  of  that 
sickening  channel.  While  at  Antwerp  the  festival  in 
honor  of  Rubens,  and  the  inauguration  of  the  statue 
of  that  great  artist,  took  place.  Elated  by  the  splendid 
spectacle,  he  writes  :  "  It  is  here  that  masters  in  the 
fine  arts  are  duly  honored.  It  makes  one  feel  proud 
to  be  one  of  the  fraternity.  Not  only  the  name  of 
Rubens,  but  the  names  of  all  the  distinguished  Flem- 
ish and  Dutch  masters  are  posted  about  the  streets." 

This  is  in  the  spirit  of  Corregio,  who,  on  seeing  a 


31 

picture  of  Titian,  exclaimed  :  "  Anch'  lo  son  Pittore." 
(I  also  am  a  painter.)  In  Paris  he  made  a  short  stay, 
drinking  inspiration  at  the  Louvre,  but  soon  journeyed 
to  Switzerland,  making  some  sketches  there  which  he 
afterwards  painted.  In  October  the  party  reached 
Florence.  Here  the  beautiful  "  Marine,"  by  Claude, 
must  have  strongly  interested  him,  as  the  influence  of 
its  softly  diffused  light  glancing  over  the  gently  dis- 
turbed sea  was  in  harmony  with  some  of  his  own  later 
productions.  He  copied  a  portrait  of  Rembrandt  in 
the  Uffizzi  palace.     (Exhibited  at  the  sale  in  1887.) 

The  winter  of  '40-'4i  was  mostly  spent  in  Rome, 
where  he  was  joined  by  his  friend,  F.  W.  Edmonds. 
There  he  painted  some  heads  of  the  picturesque  old 
models  and  various  studies  of  figures,  pipers,  and 
Contadini,  including  that  of  a  donkey,  which,  thanks 
to  the  superior  facilities  for  studio  practice  in  Rome, 
was  hauled  up  a  flight  of  stone  stairs  by  ropes,  where, 
it  is  needless  to  say,  the  donkey  posed  with  becoming 
gravity. 

He  also  made  an  admirable  copy  of  a  grand  head  of 
a  monk,  by  Titian,  and  a  figure  from  the  same  paint- 
er's famous  composition  in  the  Borghese  Palace, 
called  "  Venus  Blindfolding  Cupid,"  of  which  there  is 
a  masterly  engraving  by  Strange. 

This  European  episode  for  a  time  distracted  his  at- 


32 

tention.  The  mighty  works  of  the  Venetian  painters 
and  the  deep  tones  of  Rembrandt  strongly  affected 
him.  For  a  while  after  his  return  to  New  York  in  '41, 
he  busied  himself  in  finishing  pictures  begun  or 
sketched  abroad.  In  the  exhibition  of  '42  appeared 
*'  II  Pappagallo,  a  Lady  with  a  Parrot,"  of  a  rich 
Venetian  hue.  Also  a  number  of  Roman  heads,  two 
or  three  Swiss  landscapes,  a  "  Cottage  on  Lake  Thun," 
a  "View  at  Stratford  on  Avon,"  and  soon  after  several 
other  European  landscapes. 

European  images  were  still  hovering  in  his  brain. 
There  was  danger  that  the  wild  freshness  of  our 
American  forests,  lakes,  and  mountains  might  lose 
their  hold  on  his  heart.  But  no.  His  sound  sense, 
the  free  air  of  his  happy  out-door  studies,  his  undying 
love  of  country,  soon  resumed  the  sway  of  a  first  love, 
and  now  began  anew  that  series  of  true  American 
landscape,  which  for  many  years  delighted  the  eyes  of 
all  true  lovers  of  our  scenery  and  our  art,  and  gave 
Durand  that  well-earned  place  he  holds  among  the 
best  artists  of  America. 

Two  important  landscapes,  called  "  The  Close  of  a 
Sultry  Day,"  and  **  An  Old  Man's  Reminiscences," 
the  latter  now  in  Albany,  were  among  the  first  to  in- 
dicate the  return  of  his  early  feeling,  with  greatly  in- 
creased knowledge  and  power. 


33 

In  1846  he  won  great  applause  by  his  exhibit  of  a 
large  upright  view  from  the  edge  of  a  wood,  painted 
for  A.  M.  Cozzens,  and  now  a  striking  ornament  in 
the  collection  of  Mr.  Morris  K.  Jesup.  I  remember  well 
how  the  groups  of  artists  gathered  in  front  of  it  on 
varnishing  day  at  the  Academy,  warmly  discussing  its 
merits  and  expressing  their  admiration. 

**  An  Old  Man's  Lesson  "  soon  followed,  and 
*'  Dover  Plains,"  in  which  he  showed  his  skill  in  far- 
stretching  meadows  and  distant  hills  enveloped  in 
silvery  light. 

One  of  the  best  works  of  that  period,  exhibited  in 
'49,  was  a  cascade  in  a  rocky  mountain  gorge,  in 
which  he  introduced  Bryant  and  Cole  standing  on  a 
foreground  rock  enjoying  the  scene.  This  picture, 
called  "  Kindred  Spirits,"  was  painted  for  presentation 
to  Bryant,  and  is  in  possession  of  the  poet's  daughter, 
Miss  Julia  Bryant. 

One  of  his  favorite  compositions,  called  "  Lake 
Hamlet,"  was  painted  for  Gov.  Hamilton  Fish,  and 
Mr.  Walters,  of  Baltimore,  possesses  one  of  Durand's 
masterpieces.,  a  large  upright  forest  scene,  truthfully 
and  vigorously  executed. 

Hardly  any  of  his  pictures  have  been  more  admired 
and  enjoyed  than  the  two  somewhat  similar  ones  of 
"  The  Primaeval  Forest,"  painted  for  his  friend  and 


34 

pupil,  Mr.  Neilson,  (a  very  rich  and  strongly  painted 
work,)  which  is  now  in  the  collection  on  exhibition  at 
Ortgies'  rooms  in  Broadway,  and  the  larger  upright 
painted  for  Jonathan  Sturges,  called  "  In  the  Woods." 
In  this  great  work,  the  solemnity  of  an  American  for- 
est is  forcibly  rendered  ;  the  giant  trees  are  rich  with 
moss,  fallen  trunks  strew  the  ground,  a  brook  sparkles 
in  the  shady  depths,  and  through  the  tangled  boughs 
and  leaves  come  flashes  of  a  luminous  sky  beyond. 
Judge  Speir,  an  intimate  and  life-long  friend  of  the 
artist,  possesses  another  fine  forest  scene  in  similar 
feeling,  and  rich  in  color. 

The  open  scene  of  the  Catskill  clove,  with  moun- 
tain sides  in  a  gray  atmosphere,  is  our  Century  pict- 
ure ;  and  he  also  painted  the  study  of  "  Franconia 
Notch,"  on  the  easel,  in  the  half-length  portrait  of 
him  which  was  painted  by  the  writer  for  the  Century. 
That  study  on  the  easel  is  a  reduced  copy  of  a  large 
picture,  which  he  was  painting  for  Robert  L.  Stuart  at 
the  time  he  was  sitting  for  the  portrait. 

The  sculptor  Brown  was  an  intimate  friend  of 
Durand,  and  modelled  a  bust  of  him,  an  excellent 
likeness  (recently  presented  to  the  Academy  of 
Design  by  John  Durand).  The  sculptor  had  at  his 
house  in  Newburgh  a  "  June  Shower,"  by  Durand — 
one  of  his  best  efforts,  in  which  the  sunlight  is  burst- 


35 

ing  through  a  rift  in  the  hurrying  clouds  and  streaking 
with  brightness  a  part  of  the  dripping  valley.  (This  is 
also  now  in  the  Exhibition  in  Broadway.) 

Durand  was  fond  of  Lake  George  scenery,  and 
there  painted  many  of  his  best  studies.  I  visited  the 
pleasant  resort  he  frequented  late  in  life,  called  Bosom 
Bay,  at  Hewlett's  Landing.  Arriving  late  in  the 
afternoon,  as  the  shadows  were  deepening  in  the 
ravines  of  Black  Mountain,  we  were  kindly  welcomed 
by  the  white-haired  artist,  who  was  smoking  his  quiet 
pipe,  on  the  old-fashioned  stoop  of  the  snug  farm- 
house, surrounded  by  a  group  of  friends  and  members 
of  his  family.  The  following  day  we  made  a  party  to 
row  to  Harbor  Island  for  sketches  and  a  pic-nic.  It 
was  a  lovely  day  in  the  early  autumn.  Harbor  Island 
is  one  of  the  beauties  of  Lake  George — irregular  in 
shape,  varied  by  forests  and  rocky  shores,  having  a 
sequestered  interior  bay  with  a  narrow  entrance,  where 
the  still,  transparent  water,  protected  from  wind,  re- 
flects every  leaf.  Durand,  with  his  accustomed  indus- 
try, was  soon  busy  with  a  study.  Some  sketched,  or 
strolled  about,  or  lounged  with  idle  oars  to  various 
points  of  the  shore.  The  views  are  beautiful.  To 
the  east  rises  the  massive  form  of  Black  Mountain ;  to 
the  south  stretches  the  lake,  dotted  by  the  hundred 
islands  of  the  Narrows ;  and  the  western  outlook  is 


36 

hemmed  in  by  the  broken  outline,  deep  forests,  and 
rocky  precipices  of  Tongue  Mountain.  In  this  fasci- 
nating region  Durand  calmly  but  earnestly  pursued  his 
summer  studies  for  several  seasons.  The  serene, 
translucent  waters  of  Lake  George  were  typical  of  the 
frank,  placid,  and  truthful  spirit  of  the  man. 

Durand  seldom  attempted  scenes  of  storm  or  vio- 
lence ;  such  were  not  in  his  natural  vein,  and  are  not 
executed  with  the  hearty  spirit  of  his  gentler  works. 
One  of  the  noblest  and  most  successful  of  these  bolder 
efforts  was  painted  for  Robert  Oliphant,  to  whom  our 
artists  are  deeply  indebted  for  his  cheering  personal 
friendship  and  intelligent  encouragement  of  American 
Art.  The  picture  referred  to  is  called  "  The  Symbol." 
An  ominous  storm  is  gathering  and  blackening  around 
a  mountain ;  a  giant  peak  rises  high  above  the  murky 
confusion  below,  catching  a  golden  flush  of  sunlight 
through  a  rift  in  the  clouds.  It  is  an  admirable  pict- 
ure, but  the  hopeful  glow  on  the  granite  peak  reflects 
more  of  the  artist's  cheerful  temper  than  the  dismal 
strife  of  the  swirling  clouds  below.  What  a  contrast  to 
this  is  the  bright,  sunny,  and  consoling  picture  called 
"  Sunday  Morning,"  kindly  sent  from  Providence  by 
the  owner,  Mr.  Royal  Taft,  to  grace  the  Memorial  Ex- 
hibition of  the  artist's  works,  now  open  at  Ortgies'.  A 
sweet  serenity  pervades  it  in  every  part.    It  is  a  poem. 


37 

suggesting  to  the  mind  that  stillness  and  feeling  of 
sacred  rest  which  is  often  experienced  on  a  calm  Sun- 
day morning  in  a  beautiful  country.  Another  picture, 
the  subject  of  which  was  suggested  to  him  by  Mr. 
Sturges,  and  which  is  a  complete  exception  to  his 
usual  vein,  is  called  "  God's  Judgment  upon  Gog."  It 
illustrates  certain  passages  in  the  prophecy  of  Ezekiel. 

"  Behold  [saith  the  Lord]  I  am  against  thee,  O 
Gog,  the  chief  Prince  of  Mesheck  and  Tubal.  I  will 
turn  thee  back  .  .  .  and  I  will  smite  thy  bow 
out  of  thy  left  hand,  and  will  cause  thine  arrows  to 
fall  out  of  thy  right  hand.  .  .  .  Thou  shalt  fall, 
upon  the  mountains  of  Israel  thou  and  all  thy  bands. 
.  .  .  I  will  give  thee  unto  the  ravenous  birds 
of  every  sort,  and  to  the  beasts  of  the  field  to  be 
devoured." 

So  far  as  I  can  vaguely  recall  the  picture,  it  repre- 
sented a  scene  of  darkness  and  desolation  in  the 
valley  of  graves.  The  hosts  of  Gog  are  scattered 
and  falling  in  terror,  while  the  blackened  air  is  horrid 
with  the  ominous  flight  of  birds  of  prey  snuffing  the 
blood  of  the  slain  oppressors  of  Israel.  Out  of  a  cav- 
ernous gap  in  the  mountains  rush  forth  hordes  of  wild 
beasts — tigers  and  leopards,  swift  and  stealthy,  thirst- 
ing for  blood.  There  is  something  of  an  awful  and 
demoniac  spirit  about  this  scene,  the  widest  departure 


38 

from  Durand's  favorite  themes  known  to  me.  Doubt- 
less Mr.  Sturges  wished  to  try  his  friend's  skill  in  a 
grand  imaginative  work,  and  Durand  studied  it  earn- 
estly, but  it  cannot  be  called  entirely  successful. 

One  of  the  later  pictures  (the  largest,  I  believe,  he 
ever  painted),  and  one  of  the  grandest  and  best,  is  the 
"  Forest  Scenery  "  now  in  the  Corcoran  Gallery.  It 
was  the  last  he  painted  before  moving  from  New 
York  to  New  Jersey.  It  is  a  noble  work,  broadly  and 
simply  painted.  It  represents  the  profound  solitude 
of  the  forest  primeval  in  its  grandeur  and  silence, 
reveals  the  vigor  of  a  master's  hand  and  the  ripe 
experience  of  a  long  life  of  serious  study,  and  it  is, 
moreover,  strongly  characteristic  of  the  calmness  and 
solidity  of  the  author's  mind.  It  is  a  subject  of  con- 
gratulation that  such  a  grand  and  representative  work 
is  permanently  placed  in  a  fire-proof  public  institution 
so  important  as  the  Corcoran  Gallery. 

After  his  retreat  to  his  pleasant  country  residence 
in  Orange,  he  seldom  exhibited  at  the  Academy.  On 
occasions  he  sent  groups  of  his  studies  from  nature, 
which  were  eagerly  welcomed  by  the  artists. 

A  large  number  of  these  invaluable  studies  are  at 
this  moment  to  be  seen  at  the  exhibition  in  Broad- 
way, held  by  his  executors,  and  are  of  great  variety, 
beauty,  and  interest. 


39 

In  1874  he  made  his  last  academic  exhibit — the 
**  Franconia  Notch,"  now  belonging  to  the  widow  of 
Robert  L.  Stuart — a  fine  picture,  painted  several 
years  earlier. 

His  last  picture^  painted  in  1879,  ^^^  ^  "  Souvenir 
of  the  Adirondacks  " — a  sunset,  in  which  the  softly 
diffused  light,  spreading  over  a  placid  lake  and  quiet 
sky,  aptly  figures  the  tranquillity  of  his  closing  years. 
As  he  made  the  last  touches  to  this  picture,  with  a 
hand  enfeebled  by  the  weight  of  eighty-three  years, 
he  laid  down  his  palette  and  brushes  for  ever,  saying 
that  ''  his  hand  would  no  longer  do  what  he  wanted  it 
to  do." 

On  the  resignation  of  Prof.  Morse,  in  1845,  Durand 
was  elected  President  of  the  Academy  of  Design,  to 
which  office  he  was  unanimously  re-elected  till  i860. 
He  guided  the  affairs  of  the  Academy  with  wisdom, 
and  the  schools,  exhibitions,  and  general  affairs  were 
successfully  conducted  during  his  energetic  but  con- 
servative administration.  There  were  troubles,  how- 
ever, which  annoyed  him.  The  Academy  struggled 
with  financial  disasters,  owing  partly  to  business 
crises,  partly  to  the  distraction  of  free  exhibitions, 
which  diminished  Its  receipts.  We  had  no  permanent 
home,  the  antique  casts  were  in  a  hired  loft,  and,  in 
order  to  raise  money  for  a  new  building  and  other 


40 

purposes  by  issuing  bonds,  the  Academy  had  been 
obliged  to  place  its  property  in  the  hands  of  trustees, 
of  which  Durand  was  one. 

Difficulties  arose  because  of  conflicting  ideas  be- 
tween the  trustees  and  the  Academy.  Some  urged 
the  risking  the  expense  of  a  fine  building  ;  others 
argued  for  prudence,  economy,  and  a  plain  house. 
Durand  sympathized  with  the  artists,  and  strove  to 
reconcile  the  opponents,  but  he  hated  turmoil,  and, 
to  secure  quiet  for  his  studies,  he  talked  of  resigning 
the  presidency.  And,  notwithstanding  the  earnest 
wishes  of  the  members,  he  did  so  in  i860.  Some 
time  before  this,  a  circumstance  occurred  which  fur- 
nished an  occasion  for  the  resignation  he  had  contem- 
plated. Proposals  had  been  made  for  a  new  building 
on  Twenty-third  Street.  Plans  were  invited  from  a 
few  architects,  and  a  time  fixed  for  their  presentation 
for  decision  by  the  Council.  On  the  evening  of  the 
appointed  day  the  Council  assembled.  President 
Durand  was  in  the  chair.  The  designs  of  the  com- 
peting architects  were  displayed,  but  only  two  were 
judged  worthy  of  serious  consideration.  Of  these 
one  was  by  an  architect  then  well-known  for  his  prac- 
tical skill,  but  was  thought  too  plain  and  common- 
place in  its  effect  to  the  eye.  The  other  was  by 
Eidlitz,  in  the  Paladian  style,  pleasing  and  appropri- 


41 

ate.  Durand  decidedly  favored  the  latter.  Most  of 
us  agreed  with  him,  and  after  discussion  we  voted  to 
accept  it.  This  decision  was  not  absolutely  final,  the 
consent  of  the  trustees  being  necessary.  We  ad- 
journed, and  President  Durand  went  home.  No 
sooner  had  he  left,  than  the  officer  in  charge  of  the 
designs  said  :  "  Gentlemen,  there  is  another  drawing, 
but  as  it  came  after  the  time  fixed  for  receiving 
designs  had  passed,  I  have  not  thought  it  proper  to 
place  it  in  competition."  We  exclaimed  against  so 
much  red  tape,  and  asked  to  see  it.  It  was  brought 
out.  It  was  a  design  by  Wight,  very  much  like  our 
building  as  it  now  stands,  but  more  beautiful  and 
picturesque.  We  called  for  a  re-organization.  The 
vice-president  took  the  chair ;  we  reconsidered  the 
previous  vote,  and  almost  unanimously  decided  for 
Wight's  design. 

Our  excitement,  and  the  vexation  at  the  withhold- 
ing of  the  best  design,  betrayed  us  into  this  lawless 
disrespect  to  our  honored  president.  As  one  of  the 
culprits,  I  may  say  it  was  outrageous,  and  Durand  was 
justly  indignant.  We  apologized  ;  the  whole  body  of 
academicians  joined  in  a  petition,  but  he  never  took 
the  chair  again. 

I  must  say  that,  though  he  was  resolute  in  refusing 
to  condone  this  unmannerly  proceeding  of  ours  in  his 


42 

official  capacity,  he  was  personally  as  kind  and  friendly 
as  ever  to  every  one  of  us  ;  if  possible,  even  more  so. 
I  believe  he  was  glad  to  escape  from  the  anxiety  and 
responsibility  of  the  presidency,  and  resume  the  even 
tenor  of  his  studious  life. 

I  am  confident  he  was  happier,  and  grateful  for  an 
occurrence  which  furnished  him  with  a  good  oppor- 
tunity of  retiring.  He  wished  to  do  so  some  time 
before,  but  felt  bound  to  remain  in  the  office  on 
account  of  the  large  amount  of  money  which  his  two 
friends,  Jonathan  Sturges  and  Chas.  M.  Leupp,  had 
loaned  to  the  Academy,  in  great  measure  out  of  per- 
sonal regard  to  him,  and  on  bonds  which  Durand  had 
signed  as  president,  and  for  the  payment  of  which  he 
felt  an  honorable  responsibility.  This  debt  had  been 
recently  in  great  part  cancelled  or  provided  for. 

Durand  was  an  original  member  of  the  Sketch 
Club,  and  seldom  failed  to  attend  its  meetings.  The 
easy  informality  of  its  society,  the  free  interchange  of 
ideas  with  cultivated  men,  artists,  and  amateurs,  ren- 
dered it  a  source  of  pleasant  recreation,  as  well  as  a 
time  of  improving  and  stimulating  contact  of  wits. 

His  friend,  C.  C.  Ingham,  was  also  a  zealous 
member.  Of  Irish  birth,  a  painter  of  highly  finished 
portraits,  a  favorite  with  the  ladies,  who,  if  they  were 
young  and  beautiful,  were  sure  of  not  losing  by  his 


43 

pencil,  and  if  they  were  fading,  could  rely  on  his 
restoring  their  withered  bloom  ;  he  was,  withal,  ex- 
citable, and  even  irascible.  On  a  certain  dilemma 
occurring  in  affairs  at  the  Academy  of  Design,  he 
indulged  in  some  passionate  words,  and  was  rather 
vigorously  reproved  by  the  amiable  president.  To 
be  calmly  put  down  when  red-hot  with  rage,  was  too 
much  for  the  high-strung  Ingham.  He  retorted  furi- 
ously, but  Durand  smiled  and  said  nothing.  It  was  a 
good  instance  of  his  self-control.  They  did  not  speak 
to  each  other  for  many  months.  Jonathan  Sturges 
was  a  sincere  friend  of  both  men.  He  was  pained  at 
this  estrangement.  He  determined  to  reconcile  them. 
At  a  meeting  of  the  Sketch  Club  at  his  house,  when 
all  were  gathered  about  the  supper-table,  the  guests 
being  in  genial  spirits  (the  champagne  foaming),  Mr. 
Sturges  said  :  "  Mr.  Durand — Mr.  Ingham,  shake 
hands  and  be  friends  for  my  sake."  Durand  replied  : 
"  I  shall  be  glad  to  do  so,"  and  gave  his  hand  to 
Ingham,  who  shook  it  warmly,  saying  :  '*  It  gives  me 
great  pleasure,"  and  the  two  were  ever  after  firm 
friends.  "  Blessed  are  the  peace-makers,  for  they 
shall  be  called  the  children  of  God." 

In  June,  1872,  at  the  suggestion  of  Mr.  Jervis 
McEntee,  several  of  Durand's  friends  formed  a  sur- 
prise party  to  visit  him  at  his  house  in  South  Orange. 


44 

Mr.  McEntee,  in  a  letter  to  John  Durand,  writes  : 
"  The  Durand  pic-nic  came  off  Saturday,  June  8th, 
and  was  a  perfect  success.  It  had  rained  in  the 
morning,  but  cleared  off  before  it  was  time  for  us  to 
go  ;  but  the  woods  were  so  wet  that  we  had  our  table 
spread  upon  the  wide  veranda  of  the  house,  where  we 
remained  the  whole  day,  and  every  one  seemed  to  en- 
joy it  to  the  utmost.  Mr.  Bryant  came  all  the  way 
from  Roslyn  in  spite  of  the  threatening  weather.  I 
was  sure  he  would  come  if  it  were  possible,  and  he 
seemed  to  enjoy  the  occasion  exceedingly,  and  made 
a  nice  little  address  at  the  lunch-table." 

There  were  present  at  this  party,  as  far  as  can  be 
now  remembered  :  Palmer,  the  sculptor,  and  Mrs. 
Palmer,  who  came  from  Albany  for  the  occasion ; 
Mrs.  Godwin,  who  came  with  her  father,  Mr.  Bryant ; 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  McEntee  ;  Eastman  Johnson  and  wife  ; 
Kensett,  with  a  young  lady  from  Philadelphia  ;  San- 
ford  Gifford  and  his  sister  ;  Whittredge  and  wife  ;  C. 
P.  Cranch  ;  Geo.  H.  Hall ;  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hicks  ;  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  David'  Johnson  ;  Quincy  Ward  ;  Falconer 
Vollmering  ;  Brevoort  and  Miss  Bascom  (now  Mrs. 
Brevoort);  Wm.  Page  and  wife  ;  Wm.  Hart  and  wife  ; 
besides  the  families  of  Mr.  Durand  and  of  his  son-in- 
law,  Mr.  Woodman,  and  others  of  their  guests. 

Mr.  McEntee  says  :     "  Mr.  Durand  acknowledged 


45 

the  compliment  in  a  speech,  which  showed  how  deeply 
he  was  touched  by  this  remembrance  of  the  artists. 
It  was  a  most  satisfactory  day,  and  I  shall  always  re- 
member with  gratification  that  my  suggestion  was  so 
heartily  responded  to,  and  that  we  were  able  to  show 
in  so  fitting  a  way  our  veneration  for  the  old  man." 
Mr.  McEntee  adds  :  "  Just  before  I  left  the  city  I  re- 
ceived a  letter  from  John  Durand,  in  which  he  told  me 
the  affair  had  had  the  happiest  effect  upon  his  father. 
He  had  walked  nearly  over  the  Orange  Mountain,  and 
was  in  the  best  of  spirits."  It  was  the  misfortune  of 
the  writer  to  lose  the  pleasure  of  this  festival  by 
illness. 

There  are  several  portraits  of  Durand.  One  by 
Metcalf,  as  a  young  man ;  the  Trumbull  portrait, 
with  a  portfolio  in  his  hand  ;  a  richly  colored  head  by 
Jewett  ;  one  painted  by  himself,  in  the  possession  of 
the  Academy  of  Design  ;  another  by  Elliott,  belong- 
ing to  Mr.  Walters,  of  Baltimore,  engraved  by  Halpin; 
and  the  half-length  by  Huntington,  painted  for  the 
Century  Club.  Rowse  made  an  excellent  crayon 
drawing.  There  is  also  the  bust  by  H.  K.  Brown, 
presented  by  John  Durand  to  the  Academy  of  Design, 
and  the  Art  Union  issued  a  medal  by  Carl  Muller, 
bearing  on  the  obverse  a  profile  to  left  of  Durand,  and 
on  the  reverse  a  palette  with  brushes  and  oak  and 


46 

laurel  leaves.  One  of  these  medals  was  deposited  in 
the  corner-stone  of  the  National  Academy  of  Design. 

Durand  was  endowed  with  certain  traits  which  com- 
bined to  form  a  great  artist.  He  was  early  smitten 
with  the  love  of  7iature,  his  native  patience  was 
strengthened  by  the  severity  of  his  early  struggles, 
and  to  these  was  added  an  indomitable  perseverance. 
His  love  of  nature  was  a  passion,  an  enthusiasm 
always  burning  within  him,  but  it  was  like  a  steady 
fire,  not  a  sudden  blaze  quickly  sinking  to  ashes.  His 
patience  enabled  him  to  guide  this  intense  delight  in 
beauty  into  paths  of  quiet,  steady  search  for  the  result. 
It  was  touch  after  touch,  line  upon  line,  a  gradual  ap- 
proach to  victory.  Added  to  this  was  his  untiring 
perseverance,  which  no  difficulties  could  overcome,  no 
obstacles  affright,  or  even  cold  indifference  discourage. 

Though  full  of  nervous  energy,  alive  to  every 
beauty,  keenly  sensitive  to  criticism,  and  a  severe 
critic  on  his  own  work,  he  was  yet  blessed  with  a  cer- 
tain serenity  of  spirit  which  checked  and  soothed  the 
restless  fever  of  the  creative  brain  ;  a  fever  often  so 
violent  in  the  painter  or  the  poet  as  to  cause  a  deep 
and  sometimes  fatal  reaction  and  depression.  Durand 
formed  a  habit  of  working  on  and  on  cheerily  till  the 
coveted  prize  was  gained. 

He  maintained  that  a  landscape  painter  in  his  early 


47 

studies  should  not  only  make  careful  copies  of  nature 
in  the  fields,  but  be  trained  by  drawing  the  human 
figure,  both  from  the  antique  and  from  the  living 
model.  Accuracy  of  eye,  with  facility  and  exactness, 
can  rarely,  if  ever,  be  acquired  without  such  practice. 
Such  a  training  quickly  asserts  itself  in  the  modelling 
of  forms  in  mountain  rock  and  forest,  in  cloud  struc- 
ture, the  lines  of  waves,  etc.  The  forms  of  inanimate 
nature  seldom  demand  absolute  accuracy  of  drawing  ; 
but  in  accessory  figures,  buildings,  and  animals,  it  is 
essential.  Durand,  though  by  his  drilling  as  an  en- 
graver of  figures,  and  especially  of  portraits,  was 
habitually  true  and  exact,  yet  dwelt  with  great  fond- 
ness on  those  qualities  which  depend  on  the  processes 
and  mysteries  of  the  art,  the  rendering  of  subtle  and 
infinitely  varying  effects  of  atmosphere,  of  fleeting 
clouds,  of  mist,  sunshine,  twilight  obscurity,  and  the 
thousand  wondrous  phenomena  which  form  the  pe- 
culiar glory  of  landscape. 

He  was  twice  married,  and  was  happily  surrounded 
by  an  affectionate  family.  His  daughters  delighted  to 
wait  upon  his  steps,  to  lighten  his  cares,  to  cheer  his 
hours  of  fatigue  and  rest.  His  sons  rose  to  manhood 
to  do  him  honor.  The  whole  fraternity  of  artists 
were  proud  of  his  achievements,  reverenced  his  char- 
acter, and  looked  up  to  him  with  affection.       In  the 


48 

midst  of  the  beautiful  surroundings  of  his  home,  in  a 
house  standing  on  the  spot  where  he  was  born,  he 
tranquilly  passed  a  serene  old  age,  modestly  wearing 
the  laurels  won  by  the  faithful  struggles  of  a  noble 
and  useful  life  ;  and  patiently  submitting  himself  to 
the  will  of  God,  calmly  awaited  the  summons  which, 
on  the  17th  day  of  September,  1886,  at  the  venerable 
age  of  ninety  years,  called  him  to  the  eternal  life 
beyond. 


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